A message from Denis

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a terrific 2 weeks of fun and excitement as we have built towards our SMAV Sportathon and Colour Run.  We hope you have enjoyed the fun videos (albeit with some terrible amateur acting) and buzz that the children have been coming home with.

Colour Run

A massive thank you to our amazing SMAV community who has pooled together to fundraise (at the writing of this article) a whopping $44,143.25!!!!  I am astonished at the generosity of this community and am very much looking forward to putting the funds to use by improving the school facilities for our students.

A massive thank you to our P&F for organising the day.  A special thank you to Tom Connell, Sarah Connolly, Naomi Southurst, Yvette Dugina and Callan Tenabel for their tremendous work in organising the Sportathon and Colour Run day.  It was a tremendous success. Thank you also to the Panthers group for allowing us the use of the club's facilities and oval. 

Quotes and plans are underway to transform not only the current Digital Technology room, but also the current library space.  We will be creating a SMAV Creativity and Innovation Hub across the two rooms.  With a Maker’s Space for STEM in the current Digital Technology room and the current library space being transformed into an Arts Centre, where Performing and Creative Arts can have a home in our school.  This final space is a much needed one for our community as we do not have a designated space for Creative Arts currently at all.

Thank you once again to our wonderful P&F, teachers, students and parent community for getting behind and driving this great fundraising initiative for our school.

Grandparents and Special Persons Day Monday 30th October

We look forward to welcoming Grandparents to our school next Monday.  We recognise parents as the first educators of their children, and our grandparents were their first educators!  Grandparents play a special role in children's lives, helping educate them about the world with the wisdom and experience they gained over a lifetime.  Monday morning is SMAV’s small acknowledgement of this.  I know that Jess and I would not be able to have the happy and balanced family life that we have if not for the support of our parents.

Bethlehem

It has been heartening to see aid being allowed into the Gaza strip and some hostage release being negotiated over the past week or so.  I’m hopeful that this means that a resolution may be finding its way forward in this horrible situation and continue to pray that this will occur soon.  The situation continues to be sire in the region, we keep the people of Palestine and Israel in our thoughts and prayers.

One of the first places on our pilgrimage in Jesus’ footsteps was Bethlehem.  The birthplace of Jesus.  This place is currently located in modern day Palestine, meaning the Jewish/Israeli people have little presence here.  Even the national police who guard the area are Palestinian.  

The Palestinian’s of Bethlemhem were welcoming and kind, opening their shops before and after hours for us.  We visited a Catholic girls school where Muslim and Christian girls were learning together beautifully with a team of dedicated teachers.

While in Bethlehem we visited the place of Jesus’ birth, the grotto of the Holy Nativity and had the privilege of attending mass close by.  The entry to this grotto was so small, you had to bend over to enter, closed off in attempt to hide it from those wanting to persecute the early Christians.  We also visited sites such as Lazarus’ tomb and the Shepherds field where the angels appeared to the shepherds, telling them of Jesus’ impending arrival into the world.  It was a busy place but one that had much significance to our faith and a fitting place to begin our journey in the steps of Jesus.

Social Media and Being Safe Online

We have had a number off issues with students inappropriately accessing technology both in school and at home.  Technology is a powerful tool for learning and exploration but as adults we need to help our children to be aware of appropriate behaviour while online, children simply do not have the skills or are not developmentally ready to navigate the complex world of the internet without clear and consistent adult guidance.

In particular a number of our older students are engaging with social media ahead of the guided age of 13.  This age is there for a reason and in my belief it is actually too young as it is.  This sets up students to make mistakes online, some of them with severe repercussions. I’ve included an article from the E Safety commissioner and urge parents to read it, carefully consider it and action accordingly.

I like to give students a simple message:  What goes online, stays online.  So if you want to take something back, or wrote something just for a laugh but want to take it down, or were “just mucking around,”  it is often too late.  Someone has screenshotted it and it can be out there for the world to see.  And you will need to face whatever consequences come from your actions.

We will continue to work through educating our students about their digital footprint and their responsibilities while online and urge you as parents to please do the same.

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay connected,

Denis Johnstone

Principal